The dreaded "engine cuts on and off" problem. I searched and came up with the MAFS consensus from the .org. I am having this problem right now. I almost got into two accidents tonight because of it! The fuel filter is about 3 weeks old, i installed a "new" used MAFS and and its just getting worse. In addition, there seems to be some kind of a leak on the fuel filter because the top of the filter seems to get a trace of gas on it. Not to mention my friend who was driving in his car behind me tonight said he smelled a ton of gas fumes behind my car. Can anyone help me out? I detailed the engine a few nights ago with some degreaser and water so I thought that might have had something to do with it. I checked the plug chambers and they seemed ok. I hope I dont have a really involved problem.

Lately, I've noticed what sounds like a pinging in a valve when the engine is at idle. Its intermittent in volume tho...its loud sometimes, and sometimes you cant even hear it. But when it gets loud, you can hear it standing a few feet from the car with the hood down. Would this have anything to do with the spazzing out? I figured maybe the knock sensor may be sensing the valve knocking and shutting down the accelleration? Do you think that it would be that extreme though? The engine seems to vibrate a little harder than it used to as well...kinda like a slight "shudder". I replaced the fuel filter...again...today, took each coil off and checked for dirt or water. And still no luck.

Another thing is that the problem also seems to be throttle sensitive...sometimes. I can just lightly tap the accellerator and the RMPs will drop to about 400. It does not seem to like it when I repeatedly tap the accellerator. When I do, the RPMs go nuts up and down between 400 and 1k.

I dont know what to test or how for that matter, I was thinking it may have something to do with the Throttle Piston Sensor, or the Fuel pressure regulator but I dont know where the hell it is or what to do with it when I find it!

What the hell is going on!?

 

As much as you probably don't want to hear it, I would try replacing the MAF sensor again. I had a lot of the symptoms you have, then I replaced the MAF sensor with one I thought was good. I gave up and took it to the mechanic who informed me that my MAF was bad. Needless to say, it was, and the third one was good. This little issue cost me almost 200 bucks that didn't need to be spent.

Oh yeah, and the gas thing? Mine has been doing that since I replaced the filter about 3 months ago. I get treated to the wonderful smell of raw gas everytime the car starts, but it hasn't caused any problems yet. The hose is on tight, and sealed well. It's not going anywhere but it still seeps gas enough to make the filter moist....

 

Well, I got the MAF from my local junkyard and they said they guaruntee their parts, so if it doesnt work they will give me another one to try. I'll do that tomorrow...hopefully it will get me somewhere.

 

That's exactly what mine was. A guaranteed junkyard part.
Of course it cost me 200 bucks for the *** holes to plug the two in.

 

damn, they only charged me $50 for the sensor and I put it on myself.

 

My part was 50 bucks too. I put the first one on myself and it didn't help so I thought it was a different part at fault so I put the original back in. The shop charged 50 bucks for a computer diagnostic, 50 bucks to plug in the replacement that I had tried and taken back out, 50 more to plug in the second replacement, and 35 to drive it around the block a few times.

Last time I go there.

 

wow...lesson learned I bet.

 

at least I didnt take it to the dealer

 

Always remember you vasaline when going to the dealer

 

Yep. I work at the VW dealer and let me just say: NEVER EVER BUY A JETTA. I literally know some of the people by name who bring their cars in weekly for repair. They are nice cars and all, but suck mechanically.

Anyhoo, we charge 76 bucks an hour for labor and I know it's good reliable work and I'd trust any of our guys with my car any day. However, the local Nissan dealer is a bunch of know-nothing chumps. If I'm gonna pay a day's wage each hour to have someone work on my car they better be qualified and experienced.

 

A guy who works in a VW dealership and own a Maxima! That ought to tell us something about VW's reliability!

Actually I liked VWs very much. They're very nice to drive, and I like their looks. But I've always been afraid to own one due to their reliability record. VW owners are worse than Honda owners in term of their fanaticism however! I have a friend who's a VW nut. He's just like those VW owners portrayed in those VW TV commercials!

Anyway, to be on topic, I always find that turning the engine off and back on again usually stopped the problem for the remainder of the trip. It always seem to happen in the most inopportune moment, doesn't it? When you're just accelerating leisurely with no one behind you, it never happened! But just when you really need to accelerate hard right now...

 

I have my little sayings about most cars, most of which aren't very appropriate because they relate most newer cars to my ***.

I usually say that America hasn't made a good car since 1975, germany since 1985, and most other countries never have.

Like I say though, I love VW's. The passat is one of the nicest cars I've ever driven, but I'd rather have a consistently running car.

 

Well, I was on my way to work this morning, and guess what? It drove fine! well, up until I nearly got to work, then I could feel a little hesitation here and there. But I bet you it will start doing it again hardcore later today.

 

Have you checked your engine grounds? Just a thought. Intermittent running problems can result from a bad ground...messes with EVERYTHING. Check it out..easy one to verify/eliminate. At this point it sounds like you are playing that game! I can relate.I'd check fuel pressure too just to be sure your pump isn't crapping out. Typically fuel problems get better as the engine heats up, but not always. Also, if you are getting heavy gas fumes, even though you see a little gas on the filter, check back by the filler neck. Besides the recall on our 3rd gen filler necks, the rubber vent hose often cracks and after hard driving or uphill/downhill pulls, gas sloshes around and ends up leaking out the cracked hose. THat's what my gas smell was (or was that my ***?)

 

You should check the gas filler neck to see if its leaking. You would have to remove the rear drivers side tire and remove the protective platic to get a good look at it.

But chances are that one or more of your injectors are leaking. So after you get that checked out go ahead and replace your oxygen sensor. Over time a fuel leak will also ruin your cat convertor.

 

Its funny you mention that. My stock cat is on its way out..Ive been smelling it for a few weeks now I'm afraid Im going to have to have my mechanic take a look at the car..hopefully he can hook it up to the computer or something. There goes my mod money

 

Marlboro huh? I'm from the Attleboro area, anywho, I have a volt meter in my 87 and recently the car has been hesitating because I have a volt problem, I don't think you have a volt meter, but check out all the connections and corrosion with your battery. Make sure its not something as simple as that. Whatever else your runnin in your car in the way of accesories could one day be fine, but next day drain the battery a little. If your alternator belt is slipping and your battery isn't recharging proporly, anything you do or use can take away from the volts and yeild hesitation. YOu probably have allready checked all this or heard all this, but thought i'd just add it in just in case.

 

Actually you should go to nissan (duck), b/c they have the only diagnostic tool that will work with your car. It's called the "Consult" and nissan can do a 'power balance test' and it will show immediatley whats up with the injectors. For them to run a full diagnostics on you car should only be around $70.

You could even have a bad ignition module causing the trouble.
-ignition coils could also be the cause.

 

My '92 SE has had this problem. It showed up after I did a tune up and did some cleaning of the throttle throat with gumout spray. I assumed that I'd gotten some run off into the two lower vacuum holes below the throttle plate. One runs to the gas fume charcoal canister and the other to the sensor/vacuum switch that runs the EGR valve. I disconnected those at the EGR and cannister and ran some gumout spray through them. I also disconnected the MAP and sprayed the sensor down for good luck. I also noted that the gas cap vent was stuck so I gumouted it too until it could be opened with a Q-tip stick. As you may note I tended towards a fuel tank venting problem.
So far it seems to have cured the 1/4 tank stumble/stall problem.
Can't tell you which seems to have fixed the problem as they were all done togeather, but at least they are easy to do.

'92 SE

 

spraying down into the charcoal canister shouldnt hurt it (Even though its really not a good idea)

BTW we dont have a MAP sensor it's called a MAFS (mass air flow).

How did you use a q-tip to check the operation of the gas cap? b/c it cannot be pushed from the inside, it can only be pulled. The cap allows air to be pulled in, and does not allow gas fumes to escape the gas tank. I've sprayed mine with compressed air in the past (a couple hard bursts to free any crap). I think mine is working fine b/c when I open the cap on a low tank it out gasses a lot.

Since you disconnected the MAFS, I would reccomend cleaning that connector and pinching down the female tabs so that they may grab better.

 

Im going to take the car to the mechanic's today and he will hook it up to a computer to see if he can figure it out. I am also getting worried about the raw gas fumes Im smelling near the rear driver side wheel well by the filler neck. I took a flashlight at it last night and didnt notice any corrosion or anything in that area. But it smelled like crazy. There is never any "hiss" from the gas cap when I unscrew it, and the cap itself is brand new. I needed it when I got my car inspected last month because the original one failed inspection. The new one has a pressure release button on it too so I know that its fine.

As far as the ignition goes, I took all the plugs out last night and cleanded the tips a little bit. They werent very dirty, but plenty of carbon. At idle, the engine does not run smoothly. It vibrates almost like a plug was disconnected. So i disconnected a coil pack one at a time and noticed a rougher idle each time to see if there was a change. Since there was, I know they were all working, which leads me to believe that the problem may have something to do with the injectors and maybe with other things.

The problem only gets bad after I have driven the car for a while. When its cold, it runs fine, but I can still feel the vibration from the engine.

I will also look for an O2 sensor to have that put in. We'll see what my mechanic says about the computer readouts today and I will be posting it soon.

BTW: Brendan, whats up man? We didnt get to see you at the meet on Sunday. There are pics up in the NE forum if you wanna take a look.

 

You shouldn't do the 02 sensor until the injectors are done. Otherwise its just a waste b/c the 02 sensor will just foul again.

And like I mentioned before, Nissan is the only place that has the proper diagnostic tools to test your engine!

 

I just got off the phone with my local Nissan dealer, I have to wait until Thursday of next week for an appointment. He also said that they now use the "Consult 2". He mentioned that there is a harness there, but it may not be live to connect it to in the 93 SE and they may have to connect the computer directly. Im not sure if he know what to say. He aslo mentioned something about OBD2 and OBD. I think I will do a search on these things so I can understand them better.

 

try cleaning your IACV. its very simple, the hose on your intake (between TB and MAFS), pull it off, spray it with carb cleaner for about 5 seconds, start the car (it should stall right away), start it again, wait until there is no more smoke coming from the exhaust, shut it off and repeat a few times. this was my major idle problem the last time anything was wrong with my car..it would idle at 2000+ sometimes, or othertimes it would stall, or it would flutter..very obnoxious.
also on the filler neck recall, its an open recall, and whatever damage has been done by the problem, nissan pays for, even if the body is rotted all the way to the backseat (thats what the service dept guy said when i went in to have it checked..he also said if you cant smell gas, but it is corroding, your better off leaving it until it becomes a safety issue as you could have newer body parts put on at nissans cost..but he told me that "off the record")

 

I know man, I couldn't make it Sunday, hopefully there will be another one soon that I can get too. Goodluck with your car man.

 

I just picked up my car from the mechanic's. He installed my Hi-Flo Cat and my 2k1 SE Muffler. I drove the car home, and the entire way, it didnt notice anything abnormal. I ran almost perfectly. My mechanic isnt very far from my house, so it might not have had enough time to warm up. I told him the problem with my car, but I still intended to bring it to Nissan. All he told me is that he did hook up my car to his computer and only found that the MAF was disconnected. He didnt find anything else wrong with it when I talked to him. I didnt get a chance to talk to him when I picked up the car because he had already left, so I will talk to him tomorrow. Im about to take the car out now, and see how it runs...wish me luck and I'll post when I get back tonight!
|C

 

Still messed.

 

maybe a vacuum line. my friend's car had a leak in a vacuum hose and when it idled it would just drop rpm's a lot. it would also suck to drive. check for some loose hoses maybe

 

Maybe it's possessed

 

I just did an ECU diagnostic and came up with an 04 03 code. "Throttle Position Sensor" seems to be the problem according to the ECU. Where is this thing and is it hard to fix/replace? Does anyone have a picture of where it is?

 

In this pic, it is the little wiring harness to the right of the throttle body. Not sure how much $$ it is, but doesnt look too hard to replace. Of course, thats a VG and I'm notoriously bad at dealing with the VE....

http://www.exclusiveatlanta.com/maxi...e%20pulled.jpg

 

oh okay, I got it now. I will check it out and search for one. Thanks a lot everyone...I'll keep you posted on everything.

 

 

P.S. Several tanks of gas later and I still haven't had the dreaded Hesitation/stall problem since this previously described work. Knock on wood, I think I've fixed it.

'92 Max SE

 

Hey all, just wanted to say, Problem FIXED!! (Thanks to (Maximamike and Kaleb) I did an ECU diagnostic on Monday to chech to see if there were any error codes, and there was one. Mikey gave me the site on how to do it and everything. It came up with the Throttle Position Sensor. I unhooked it and unbloted it from the TB, but it was connected to the throttle plate so I just left it alone and put it back together since it was dark out and I couldnt see anything. The engine has been running PERFECT ever since. So thank goodness it wasn't anything too major. I was going to replace it, (which I still might do just in case) but I wanted to leave it for a while in case anything else comes up with it.

Now I have a bigger problem on the way. I can now start to hear my throwout bearing making that rattling noise. Plus, first and second gears make a "reverse" sound too. So it looks like I need to save ton of extra $$ for a clutch replacement which Im not looking forward to. I still cant believe that my VG had 170k on it and the clutch still slammed into gear with ease. This car only has 120k and the clutch is toast! Oh well, its gotta get done!

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread to help me out! It is MUCH appreciated.

 

Same thing happened to me. Bought one from the junkyard, it was bad, worse than the one I already had. They exchanged it, and I was fine after that.